Tails

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2017-04-27 10:19:43

• related to Feature #10286: Boot options documentation: more options could be added added

#6 Updated by intrigeri 2017-04-27 10:39:46

• Assignee deleted (None)

> there is no list of possible boot parameters.

I feel the need to define a narrower scope for this ticket.

Let me start with explicitly putting aside something that can’t work, in order to make sure we’re on the same page. An exhaustive list of possible boot parameters is:

• very expensive to build and maintain: /proc/cmdline is world-readable, and many pieces of software we ship can, and do, read it to take into account whatever option they want, e.g. Linux, systemd, live-boot, live-config, Tails Greeter, and probably others I have no idea about. The total number of possible options is already somewhere in the hundreds at least, and it’s constantly increasing; besides, we would need to filter the list to include only options we consider safe;
• not very useful: the list would simply be too big, and too technical, to be actionable by most Tails users.

So I’ll assume that this ticket is not about creating and maintaining such a list. Fair enough?

Now, I think there’s clearly some room for improvement in the troubleshooting sections (Tails doesn’t start at all / entirely) of the installation assistant, in our bug reporting doc, and in our known issues page. A number of these improvements will definitely require documenting some new kernel command-line options. We already do some of this work continuously as problems as discovered, and some of this work is formally on our Help Desk’s plate; so IMO the process to document workarounds for very specific issues (e.g. hardware-specific options one has to pass to a kernel module on the boot command line) is rather well covered already.

So, once we’ve put aside the “exhaustive list” and “workarounds for very specific issues” topics, I think the remaining relevant part of this ticket is about generic debugging steps (sometimes involving boot parameters). Surely some more of these should be documented as part of the generic troubleshooting UX (as opposed to hardware-specific issues that are better suited for the “Known Issues” page). Shall we refocus this ticket this way, and brainstorm what we feel may be missing? I suggest we do this as we go, whenever we identify debugging steps we often guide users through on our support channels, and we can’t point them to adequate documentation do to so.

#7 Updated by Anonymous 2017-04-27 11:00:48

• Subject changed from Consider documenting possible boot parameters to Improve documentation by providing generic debugging steps we can point users to

intrigeri wrote:
> > there is no list of possible boot parameters.
> I feel the need to define a narrower scope for this ticket.
>

> So I’ll assume that this ticket is not about creating and maintaining such a list. Fair enough?

Absolutely. Thanks for making it clear. I was not suggesting to create such an extensive list.

> So, once we’ve put aside the “exhaustive list” and “workarounds for very specific issues” topics, I think the remaining relevant part of this ticket is about generic debugging steps (sometimes involving boot parameters). Surely some more of these should be documented as part of the generic troubleshooting UX (as opposed to hardware-specific issues that are better suited for the “Known Issues” page). Shall we refocus this ticket this way, and brainstorm what we feel may be missing? I suggest we do this as we go, whenever we identify debugging steps we often guide users through on our support channels, and we can’t point them to adequate documentation do to so.

Agreed. That is basically why I created this ticket. So let me rename it and find particular examples on what we feel is missing. Please don’t hesitate adding your bits.

#10 Updated by Anonymous 2017-05-31 10:10:36

• Assignee set to sajolida

Reassigning to our technical writer.

Please see in particular https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/12474#note-8 - english issues.

And eventually comment on providing generic debugging steps.

#11 Updated by sajolida 2017-05-31 16:27:16

• Subject changed from Improve documentation by providing generic debugging steps we can point users to to Document troubleshooting tips for more failure scenarios throughout installation assistant
• Assignee deleted (sajolida)
• QA Check set to Info Needed

I fully agree with intrigeri on Bug #12474#note-6, also with u on Bug #12474#note-8.

My conclusion is that we could add more troubleshooting tips (and maybe sections) to the installation assistant (see https://tails.boum.org/install/win/usb/ and search “Troubleshooting”) to cover some of the scenarios pointed out by u in Bug #12474#note-6. Also note that we already have notes about additional kernel command line options in the section “Tails does not start entirely”. Maybe we should add more.

Now, I genuinely don’t know what are the hot topics that should be put there because I haven’t done use support in several years now (partly in an attempt to not be everywhere possible in this project). I also understand that these issues change over time as our graphical stack evolves for example (while the things that we are documenting so far are more static).

In my opinion, providing the relevant information and keeping it up-to-date is the duty of our help desk (see “do whatever small tasks will make the frontdesk job’s easier in the future” in https://tails.boum.org/contribute/working_together/roles/front_desk/).

And yes, it should be my duty to structure, format, and integrate this information in the current documentation (outside of Known issues). But we already have some structure to do that and I think we should build upon it.

Still, at this point I can’t really work on that until I’m provided with at least a bunch of relevant options or troubleshooting steps to document. Note that debug for example is already documented in “Tails does not start entirely”).

→ Trying to rename this ticket accordingly.

NB: In the Installation Assistant I use “Tails not starting at all” for “not getting the Boot Loader Menu” and “Tails does not start entirely” for “not getting Tails Greeter” while I understand that you were proposing to use the same phrasing for both in Bug #12474#note-7. I’m happy to discuss this terminology futher if you find it confusing but first I want to make sure that we understand the current state of things in the same way.

#13 Updated by sajolida 2017-06-08 07:51:47

• related to Feature #12644: Allow remembering boot options added

#14 Updated by Anonymous 2017-06-27 09:02:32

• Assignee set to goupille

So I think we agree that we could improve our troubleshooting documentation.

Dear frontdesk, the next step for this ticket would be to compile the questions that front desk receives most often, in such a manner:

- i can get until the greeter but can’t login

- i end up at a black screen

- i end up at a blue screen after rebooting

- my screen is upside down
- etc.

For each topic, we would need a question and basic steps to solve the problem.

It would be sufficient to just copy paste something here and the technical writers can then take care of putting this into shape I believe. So when you’re done with compiling some hot topics, please reassign to me or sajolida.

Thanks!

#15 Updated by Anonymous 2017-06-27 12:46:11

• related to Bug #12613: Document Debian testing live image for debugging added

#16 Updated by mercedes508 2017-11-25 18:13:12

• Status changed from New to Confirmed

#17 Updated by sajolida 2017-12-28 00:56:21

• related to Feature #15130: Restructure our support page and content added

#18 Updated by sajolida 2018-02-01 20:13:37

• related to Feature #14788: Add anchors to the troubleshooting parts of the installation doc added

#19 Updated by sajolida 2018-02-01 20:14:53

• related to Feature #15128: Link to Mac known issues from troubleshooting added

#23 Updated by goupille 2019-03-12 14:41:30

• Assignee deleted (goupille)

• Tails doesn’t boot at all / Computer boots on the main OS

→ might be related to secure boot (kind of addressed in the installation troubleshooting notes (although Feature #14788)

• Tails doesn’t get to Greeter / everything is too small on my screen

→ related to GPU error (adressed with the related known issues page)

#25 Updated by Anonymous 2019-03-12 16:56:08

• Description updated

We now have https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues that orders problems by hardware used. From https://tails.boum.org/support/ there is no way to get to some information like “My Tails does not start”. This information seems to be available only in the installation assistant → where I personally would only look if i did install Tails myself, which might not be the case of many people.

#26 Updated by Anonymous 2019-03-12 16:57:34

• Assignee set to goupille

goupille emmapeel @mercedes508 I think we still lack information from you:

sajolida said:
“At this point I can’t really work on that until I’m provided with at least a bunch of relevant options or troubleshooting steps to document.”

Could you please also send us the troubleshooting steps for the two items in https://redmine.tails.boum.org/code/issues/12474#note-23 that you send to users?

#27 Updated by goupille 2019-03-13 12:36:56

• Assignee deleted (goupille)

sorry if that wasn’t clear enough… we only thought about those two situations.

About the secure boot one, the doc is already there, probably not read by people that are too quick to reboot, or that do not have a handheld device or another computer to read the doc while rebooting, so I don’t see what we can do about that. however, when then come to us, it is painpul to point them to that particular part of the doc because there are no anchors. there is a ticket about that (Feature #14788) that would really ease our job… it could probably be duplicated or linked in /support as well…

About the other one, the gpu issues, when gdm fails, people are displayed with a screen that states their gpu and point them to tails.boum.org/gdm, but a lot of users are not going to this webpage and come to tails-bugs instead, with concerns that are mostly already answered there, so we basically point them to it again. I don’t see what to do about it, since, iirc, the number of characters to be displayed is limitated.

if it is another gpu issue (like a display issue), it is usually because their gpu wasn’t working in normal mode (so back to the tails.boum.org/gdm case) and the generic driver of the troubleshooting mode is not working well with their gpu. if there are workaround on t.b.o/gdm for that model, I redirect them to it, if not, I try to gather more info (test with debian), open a ticket and assign FT.

#28 Updated by Anonymous 2019-03-13 13:35:19

• Assignee set to sajolida

goupille Thanks! I handle that ticket over to sajolida now, to see if he can do something useful with this information.

#30 Updated by sajolida 2019-03-15 11:24:20

• Status changed from Confirmed to Rejected
• Assignee deleted (sajolida)
• QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

• For secure boot, we already have Bug #15016 and Cody is working on it.
• For graphics cards, we already have a not at the right time in the installation instructions (search for “Error starting GDM with your graphics card”).

Sorry but I don’t think that this ticket is bring new actionable ideas so I’m rejecting it.